On One-Year Anniversary of the CLEAR Relief Act, ICBA Urges Senate to Act Now
Washington, DC (PRWEB) July 24, 2014 -- The Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) today marked the one-year anniversary of Sen. Jerry Moran’s (R-Kan.) and Senator Jon Tester’s (D-Mont.) introduction of the Community Lending Enhancement and Regulatory (CLEAR) Relief Act (S. 1349)—comprehensive Senate legislation that would help relieve community banks from excessive regulation and promote local economic growth. While the ICBA advocated legislation has gained 38 bipartisan cosponsors over the past year, this one-year anniversary serves as a reminder that more can be done right now to help Main Street community banks, businesses and communities.
“S. 1349 and its House companion, H.R. 1750, would help relieve community banks from several of the crippling regulatory burdens they face on a daily basis and support community-based economic growth that would help free up community bank resources that could be used for making loans and creating jobs,” ICBA President and CEO Camden R. Fine said. “On the one-year anniversary of the introduction of the CLEAR Relief Act, ICBA urges the Senate to act on and advance this important bipartisan legislation.”
Inspired by ICBA’s Plan for Prosperity regulatory-relief platform, the CLEAR Relief Act (S. 1349) promotes regulations tiered to the size and complexity of regulated institutions to help community banks serve their communities. S. 1349 would:
• Exempt community bank portfolio loans from a variety of new mortgage rules to support the housing recovery,
• Support additional capital opportunities for small bank holding companies, and
• Provide exemptions for community banks from Sarbanes-Oxley internal-controls assessment mandates.
H.R. 1750, companion legislation introduced in the House in April 2013 by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), also would provide significant relief from excessive regulatory burdens. With 171 cosponsors, this bill also has growing bipartisan support. ICBA congratulates the House for passing several important provisions of that bill in committee and through the full House.
For more information about community bank regulatory burden and ICBA’s Plan for Prosperity, visit http://www.icba.org/advocacy/planforprosperity.cfm.
About ICBA
The Independent Community Bankers of America®, the nation’s voice for more than 6,500 community banks of all sizes and charter types, is dedicated exclusively to representing the interests of the community banking industry and its membership through effective advocacy, best-in-class education and high-quality products and services. For more information, visit http://www.icba.org.
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Aleis Stokes, Independent Community Bankers of America, +1 (202) 821-4457, [email protected]
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